Round 4, Star Mazda Series North American Championship
Round 11, Star Mazda Series West Division

Post-Race Penalties Net Rookie De Vellis First Win

SATURDAY, AUG. 4, 2001/PORTLAND INT'L RACEWAY-A steward's action against
on-track winner Scott Jenkins moved 18-year-old Marc De Vellis into the
victory position for the rookie driver's first trip to the Star Mazda
Series podium. Post-race reviews of the Speedvision footage by the Star
Mazda Series stewards showed De Vellis sideways and with brakes locked up
to avoid a slowing Jenkins as the field exited Turn Nine for the last
restart. Stewards deemed Jenkins created a hazard by suddenly slowing and
assessed a one-position penalty, thus elevating De Vellis to first.

"I really thought I had a chance on that last restart," said De
Vellis, who'd made all of his previous position advances with strong moves
out of Turn Nine, down the front straight and into Turn One of the Festival
Turns. "This time we were in second gear coming out of the turn and all of
a sudden, Scott (Jenkins) went from second to nothing. I locked up all four
wheels and thought I was going take out Scott for sure. I got a couple
wheels on the grass and Scott was gone. Somehow Chad (Block) and I avoided
what could have been a huge chain reaction."

In front of an enthusiastic hometown crowd, this would have been
Jenkins' second Star Mazda Series race win of the pro season. From the
third starting spot in the 45-car field, Jenkins maneuvered well throughout
the race, avoiding several on-track incidents to lead all but the first
aborted start lap. Finishing second on the track was De Vellis, who also
set the race's fast lap. Rounding out the podium was Block, his third
top-three finish of the season.

On pole by virtue of the "who-set-it-first" tie-breaking rule,
Scott Bradley lined up next to De Vellis after they both set identical
qualifying times in Saturday morning's timed session. Jenkins, however, was
a scant 2/1000s of a second behind in third with Oliver Rowen fourth and
Matt Beardsley fifth. On the second attempt at a start, the green was shown
as the huge field jockeyed for position into the Festival Turns. Almost
immediately, yellow flags were shown and drivers tip-toed through, hoping
to emerge unscathed at the other end. Unfortunately, Bradley was one of the
first victims, having been tapped from behind by Beardsley. The contact
sent Bradley off course, but he eventually rejoined the pack with some
damage to the transmission of his World Speed racer.

"I knew Jenkins was going to try to come up the inside into Turn
One because he had done the same thing last year," Bradley said. "I gave
him the inside going into the right-hander knowing full well that with my
car where it was he wouldn't be able to get back to the left and complete
the pass. We turned in side-by-side and I was just about to give the
throttle a quick blast so I could be ahead into the second part of the
chicane. That's when Beardsley ran into the back of me turning my car
around and shoving me off."

The outcome of the action in Turn One was that Jenkins was leading
with Block second, Moses Smith third, De Vellis fourth and Dave Gaylord in
fifth. Besides Bradley, sixth-fast qualifier Tom Dyer and Beardsley also
got shuffled to the back. "The race itself was a lot of fun," said Bradley,
who couldn't get a run on cars coming out of the corners or on restarts
because he was having trouble upshifting. "Not having come from the back of
the field before I had no idea what went on back there and if there wasn't
a championship at stake I'd love to do it again."

The first full-course caution came out on lap four to remove debris
from various locations around the track. Once clear, racing resumed on lap
seven with De Vellis making a pass on Smith for third as the pair entered
Turn One. There were other good battles in progress as well, including the
dice between Phil Fogg and Bob Negron. Unfortunately, Negron's race came to
a pre-mature end when Fogg made contact with Negron in the chicane,
sidelining Negron. Stewards later assessed Fogg a two-position penalty for
rough driving.

The second full-course caution was called just two laps later to
retrieve Negron from the gravel pit in Turn Two. Emergency crews worked
quickly and racing was back underway on lap 11. Again, green conditions
were short-lived when a full-course yellow was necessary to help Tom
Nastasi, who was high-centered on a berm between Turns Two and Three after
an incident with Mike Anderson. Luckily, both Nastasi and Anderson were
able to continue.

The longest stretch of green-flag racing followed (10 laps), which
gave De Vellis and Block the time they needed to close the gap to Jenkins.
"I almost got up beside Scott," said De Vellis. "I was just waiting for a
good run onto the front straight and for Scott to make a mistake. I was
definitely filling his mirrors every lap I could, trying to wear him down."

What happened next changed the entire complexion of the race. With
four laps to go, the last full-course yellow was ordered to retrieve
Anderson, who had run as high as sixth from his ninth-place starting
position, to a safer location after he stopped in the Festival Turns
following contact with Gaylord. This set up a one-lap shoot-out to the
checker. "Scott had done something strategically different on each restart,
but I wasn't going to let him get away from me this time," De Vellis said.
Unfortunately, Jenkins' plan to get away on the restart worked again, with
De Vellis and Block settling for second and third, respectively. The only
other change in the top five occurred in the Festival Turns when Smith got
nicked from behind and spun out of fourth place. This development moved
Rowen into fourth with Scott Kusy claiming his first top-five finish of the
season. A post-race technical infraction involving Rowen's ignition,
however, resulted in a steward's action that moved Rowen to 39th and
elevated JZ Racing's Ed Zabinski to fifth.

"We're just a small privateer team and I like showing people that
we can do well," De Vellis said of his family-run team. "This is a great
result for us."

Other noteworthy drives were turned in by several competitors,
including first-time Star Mazda Series participant Bret Arsenault, who
qualified 16th and finished sixth; Tim Jennings, who started 21st and
finished seventh; Bradley, who came from 42nd after the first-lap melee and
finished eighth; Marc Cota-Robles, who drove an incident-free race and
improved one position; and Michael Stephens, who came from 26th on the grid
to round out the top 10.

The Speedvision telecast of the Portland race, featuring
commentator Greg Creamer and pit reporter Calvin Fish, will be shown
Monday, Aug. 27, at 8 p.m. and then at midnight on Aug. 28, Eastern time.
In the Pacific time zone, the race will be shown during prime time at 5
p.m. and 9 p.m. Please check your local listings to confirm the dates,
airtimes and any repeat broadcasts.

The next race is Aug. 18, at Mosport International Raceway, in
conjunction with the ALMS slate of races. For more information about the
Star Mazda Series North American Championship, please log on to the Star
Mazda Series website at www.starmazda.com.